In November 2021, the Library of Congress announced they would replace the subject heading “Illegal aliens” with two new headings, “Noncitizens” and “Illegal immigration.” While the revision was heralded as a reflection of “the core value of social justice for ALA members” by ALA president Patty Wong, many librarians were disappointed with the replacement terminology. The continued use of “illegal” is discouraging because that term has been weaponized by elected officials and others to connote criminality and exploit racial fear. The new headings also do not adequately provide for description of the experiences of undocumented immigrants, subsuming works about their experiences into the much broader “Noncitizens” category.
The Drop the I-Word campaign was started in 2010 by Race Forward: The Center for Racial Justice Innovation. Find more information about the larger Drop the I-Word campaign along with information about why the use of “illegal” in an immigrant context is dehumanizing and legally inaccurate.
A group of library workers from ALA’s SRIDP (the Services to Refugees, Immigrants, and Displaced Persons Sub-Committee of the Office for Diversity, Literacy and Outreach Services’ Advisory Committee) has come together to invite discussion and promote revisions to this heading in library catalogs. That group is the Equitable Immigration Subject Heading Cooperative. Please get in touch with SRIDP chair Anna Kozlowska if you’d like to help change the subject.
Additional resources related to this subject heading:
- Words That Hurt: A Documentary 11-minute video from Brooklyn Public Library (2022)
- Sorrow, Fury, Helplessness, and Cynicism: An Account of the Library of Congress Subject Heading “Illegal aliens” article by Jill E. Baron and Tina Gross (2021)
- Change the Subject documentary by Jill Baron, Sawyer Broadley, Óscar Rubén Cornejo Cásares, & Melissa Araceli Padilla Castellanos (2019)
- “Aliens” vs. Catalogers: Bias in the Library of Congress Subject Heading article by Grace Lo (2019)
- Timeline of “Illegal Aliens” Subject Heading Change Petition by Jill Baron, Tina Gross, & Óscar Rubén Cornejo Cásares (2017)
Take the survey to report any local changes your library has made.
Please use the hashtag #DropTheIWord and help spread the word that libraries should not be determining the legality of immigration status!